Chris Van Vliet has fond memories working with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) even though no long-term deal was struck.
Van Vliet — a popular pro-wrestling and entertainment host who has interviewed everyone from Dwayne Johnson and John Cena to Henry Cavill and Dakota Johnson — made two appearances for AEW in its early stages. CVV, 38, reflects fondly on the experience and details how it came together.
“I was just invited to be part of that first episode,” he tells Cageside Seats’ Shakiel Mahjouri. “So if we take it back to a few months before AEW launched, I had interviewed Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes all within the course of a few months. Right before they launched their first episode — which was October 2nd in Washington, D.C. the first episode of Dynamite — they said, ‘Would you like to be part of this episode?’ I said, ‘Of course, yes.’ I asked if this would be an all-the-time thing and they said, ‘It’s the first episode, who knows. We’ll see how it goes from there.’ But this was just one episode that I was going to be part of.
“My goodness, to be a wrestling fan and a broadcaster and to be part of the first episode of wrestling on TNT in nearly 20 years. It was a really special thing to be a tiny little minuscule part of. So that was it, I expected to be part of that one episode and then a few weeks later I was fortunate enough to be part of another episode in Charleston, West Virginia. We did a segment introducing the tag team championship belts at the time. I didn’t expect it to be anything more than it was. What a cool experience to be part of that and be backstage as history was being made.”
CVV smiles ear-to-ear talking about pro wrestling because how could you not? It is a thrilling time to be involved with the industry: whether that be in a professional capacity or as a viewer.
“We’re all wrestling fans at the core of this. Whether that means you just watch on Monday, Wednesday, Friday — or whatever day of the week you decide to watch it on — or if you’re part of it in some type of way,” he says. “It’s cool to just be part of this. It’s a really exciting time to be a wrestling fan right now. I think what comes along with that is that it’s a really exciting time to be involved in the wrestling industry whether you are a wrestler, manager, ring announcer, referee or whatever. It’s just an exciting time.”
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